Dear Inner Circle,
Many years ago, Lisa and I ran our home as a drop-in centre, and two eager young mates would regularly stop by and challenge us to table tennis matches or games of pool. Occasionally the eggs in our fridge would mysteriously disappear—the riddle was solved one day when a neighbour dragged them both in and showed us the side of his house, pelted with yolks. When confronted, these two boys vehemently denied involvement, and they were very convincing, except that one of them had egg all over his brand new TNs (the local shoe of choice at the time). “I swear it wasn’t me! It was him, and, and, and…. he wiped his shoes on my feet!” They both laughed as the lie fell apart.
Fast forward to today, some 20 years later, these two young men are now leaders in their families and communities, both on the frontlines daily helping people who are slowly putting their lives back together. One of these former drop-in teens and I caught up recently — we reminisced and bought up the ‘Egg-cident’.
“I knew I was going to be good, I just wanted to have some fun before I did!” he quipped.
Well, all is now forgiven, and, if Humpty Dumpty was an egg, then this young man and his mate are dedicating their lives to doing all they can to help put things back together again. In fact, as I look out of my office window, I can see him sitting patiently with a man in Wayside’s horseshoe who is in significant distress.
Something about that conversation reminded me of a time in Kolkata with Lisa. 25 years ago, when she suggested we honeymoon there, I initially thought she was joking. Entering a musty and dusty space, to be confronted with rows of cots all filled with people in the final moments of their lives was a sight I knew I would never forget. The place is known as “The Home for the Dying”, a basement room in the Temple of Kali (the Goddess of Death, Destruction and Rebirth) where people are brought in their final moments of life.
Very few people in this place were elderly, most under 40, suffering the ravages of disease and the more degrading effects of poverty. There was a small army of volunteers assembled to care for them, a room full of young and quite photogenic people with their sleeves rolled up ready to serve wholeheartedly. There was notably not a camera in sight. Even if they had one, they needed both hands to feed, bathe and dress the wounds of the infirmed surrounding them. To be in a room with a group of people who could be anywhere in the world, doing anything they like, yet choosing to be present to care for people in pain had a profound impact. The “crisis of particularity” surely is one of the antidotes to the anxiety that plagues so many, especially young people seeking the path of purpose. Salvation comes through the feet and not the head, so move I say, get active. It was on display near those cots daily, simple as an act of kneeling to feed someone a meal or rebinding someone’s wounds.
To see young people still assembling here at Wayside to care for others is enough to restore hope in humanity. Their acts don’t give them “exposure”, nor do they receive regular validation through “likes”. In fact, it can be quite the opposite — caring for someone who is in distress is rarely a linear or orderly process and sometimes less than appreciated in the moment. It’s messy, because love is messy. Yet our people enter the fray, doing all they can with what they have, attempting to twist and bend a housing and health system that is still far too obtuse for those seeking to move forward with their lives.
One young man, after turning to drugs to deal with the tragic loss of his partner, decided to pull his life back together. He now must decide between staying housed or going to rehab, all to be there for his kid, who he may lose if he goes away for three months. All of the above is not impossible to achieve, but it requires the skill of a Savile Row sewist to thread the eye of this needle. To witness the attention to detail that our teams put into this is breathtaking, as they know that even one missed stitch could see the whole thing unravel.
Thank you for being part of the Inner Circle,
Jon
Rev. Jon Owen
CEO & Pastor
Wayside Chapel
